"I Am That I Am" # 2

"I Am That I Am" # 2

There is another note in this loud chorus of truth, which is especial sweetness to the believer's ear. It tells melodiously that Jesus  cannot change. He is as constant as He is great. As surely as He ever lives, so surely He ever lives the same. He is an infinity of never varying oneness. He sits on the calm throne of eternal serenity. Change is the defect of things below - for things below are all defective. Immutability reigns above - for immutability is perfection's essence. Our brightest morn often ends in storm. Summer's radiance gives place to winter's gloom. The smiling flower soon lies withered. The babbling brook is soon a parched-up channel. The friend who smiled, smiles no more friendly welcomes. Bereavement weeps where once the family beamed with domestic joy. Gardens wither into deserts. Babyons crumble into unsightly ruins. On all things a sad inscription writes "fleeting - transient - vanishing." Time flaps a ceaseless wing, and from the wings decay and death drop down. "I AM THAT I AM" sits high above all this. He is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever."

The unchangeableness of Jesus is the unchangeableness of His attributes. Each shines brightly in this bright mirror. But a rapid glance at His love and power must suffice. His love is in perpetual bloom. It is always in summertime. The roots are deeply buried in Himself; therefore the branches cannot fade. Believer, drink hourly of this cup of joy. Do not allow satan to infuse a poisonous doubt. Christ loved you fully when, in the councils of eternity, He received you into His heart. He loved you truly when, in the fullness of time, He took upon Himself your curse, and drained your hell-deep dues. He loved tenderly when He showed you, by the Spirit, His hands and His feet, and whispered to you that you were His. He loves you faithfully while He ceases not to intercede in your behalf, and to scatter blessings on your person and your soul. He will love you intensely in heaven when you are manifested as His precious purchase and crowned as His bride!

To each inquiry - has He loved? does He love? and will He love? - the one reply is, "I AM THAT I AM."  Do not raise the objection, if He thus loves, why am I thus? why is my path so rugged, and my heart like flint? You will soon know that your bitterest trials and your sorest pains are sure tokens of His love. The father corrects because he loves. In attentive care the physician deeply probes the wounds. Thus Jesus makes earth hard, that you may long for heaven's holy rest. He shows you your self-vileness that you may prize His cleansing blood. He allows you to stumble that you may cleave more closely to His side. He makes the world a blank that you may seek all comfort in Himself. If He seems to change, it is that you may change. He hides His face, that you may look for Him. He is silent, that you may cry more loudly. His desertion prevents your desertion. He saves from real hell, by casting into seeming hell. But love fails not. All His dealings are its everflowing, overflowing tide. On each the eye of faith can read, "I AM THAT I AM."

Power goes hand in hand with love. They co-exist and co-endure. It was a mighty voice which said, "Be" - all things were. It was a mighty hand which framed this so wondrous universe. It is a mighty arm which turns the wheel of providence. This power still is, and ever will be, what it always has been. No age enfeebles, and no use exhausts it. This is the Church's rock. The Bible, blazing with its exploits, encourages the "worm Jacob" to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." He can still bid the seas of difficulty to recede. He can cause hurricanes and tempests to cease. He can make straight the crooked paths of evil. He can level the mountains of high-towering corruption. He can stop the lion-mouth of persecution. He can quench the scorching flames of every lust. In the face of all Goliaths, He cheers His followers to victory, under the banner of "I AM THAT I AM."

Reader, these thoughts scarcely touch the boundary line of the shadow of this glorious name. But surely they show the blessedness of those who, guided by the Spirit, repose beneath the wings of Jesus. 'The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.' "I AM THAT I AM" must perish or must change, before their names can be cast from His heart! Some greater power must arise, before they can be plucked from His tight-grasping hand. The bare idea is folly! Happy flock! "I AM THAT I AM" loves them, and they are loved - calls them, and they follow Him - sanctifies them, and they are sanctified - blesses them,and they are blessed - gives them life, and they live - gives them glory, and they are glorified.

But perhaps it is your wretched case to live unsprinkled by His saving blood. Will you die thus? What! thus appear before His great white throne? His truth condemns you - and it cannot change. His wrath burns hotly against you - and it cannot relent. His power has commission to destroy you - and it cannot be withstood. "I AM THAT I AM" becomes an idle fable, if truth and wrath and power war not eternally with sin. And can they war and not prevail?

Believer, the eternity and unchangeableness of "I AM THAT I AM" makes heaven to be heaven for ever. Sinner, the eternity and unchangeableness of "I AM THAT I AM" makes hell to be hell forever.

~William Law~

(The End)